


Until We Meet Again

by emeraldsage85



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 05:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4907413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldsage85/pseuds/emeraldsage85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ianto's death Jack receives a second chance to say goodbye and a promise that will sustain him for the years to come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Jack was in Ianto’s flat. He had no idea how he could have gotten there since Ianto’s flat didn’t exist anymore but there it was. The bed was covered in the lovely warm comforter they had spent so many nights under. The closet door was open a crack, revealing a rack of neatly pressed suits which Jack would never see his lover wear again and the dresser still held the picture of the old team together outside the Hub. Jack brushed his fingers over it wistfully. It had been taken shortly before Tosh and Owen had died. 

“Looking for something?” a familiar voice asked.

Jack spun around, bewilderment evident on his features.

“Ianto?” 

Ianto was dressed in a three piece pinstriped black suit with a white shirt and blue and white striped tie. It was the one Jack liked to refer to as the “cute suit.” He’d worn it the week before he died.

“Well are you going to stand there and gape all day or do I get a hello?” Ianto demanded.

“How are we here?” Jack managed.

“It’s a little blip in the universe. We weren’t supposed to be here but yet we are. Think of it as a goodbye,” Ianto said.

Jack recovered his composure and rushed to embrace the man he thought he’d never see again. 

“Don’t leave me,” Jack begged. 

“I have to eventually but we have a little time," Ianto said.

They fell together, kissing in a clash of tongues and teeth as Jack held Ianto in an iron grip. When they pulled apart they were both gasping.

“I love you. I never said it while you were dying and I’m sorry but I love you,” Jack said in a rush.

“You didn’t have to say it. I always knew how you felt,” Ianto murmured before placing another kiss on Jack’s lips. 

Then he pulled away, took out his pocket watch, and checked the time. 

“Not long now; we have three minutes. Better make the most of it,” he said.

“No,” Jack whispered. 

Tears pricked the corners of his eyes and he blinked furiously to keep from crying. Ianto cupped Jack’s face in his hands and they simply stood there, basking in each other’s presence for one last moment. 

“I want you to do something for me,” Ianto said softly.

“Anything,” Jack agreed.

“Don’t forget me.” 

“I won’t, I promise. I just wish I could see you again,” Jack said.

Ianto smiled briefly for a moment before saying, “I’ll tell you a secret. One day, a very long time from now we’ll meet again. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Jack tried to smile through the tears that were clouding his vision but he couldn’t quite manage it. Then Ianto took out his stop watch again and frowned.

“Time’s up,” he said, “I’m sorry Jack but I have to go.”

“Don’t go, Ianto, please don’t go,” Jack sobbed.

Ianto looked at Jack with a face creased with pain and whispered, “Good-bye Jack.”

Jack couldn’t summon the words to say it so he simply settled for nodding instead. Within seconds Ianto had gone transparent and then he was gone. Jack threw himself to the floor and sobbed painfully. A few seconds later and he was coming back to life with a gasp; it always felt like being hauled over broken glass.

“Jack!” Gwen shrieked.

“Gwen,” he gulped, “How long?”

“I don’t know, three minutes?” she said, “Come on, we don’t have much time.”

“Where are we going?” Jack asked.

“The pier – we’d better catch it before it gets away,” she urged.

Jack hopped to his feet and out of impulse stuck his hand in his pocket. It closed around something that hadn’t been there before. He pulled it out and was shocked to discover a blue and white striped tie. 

“Come on Jack!” Gwen was shouting. 

Jack hastily stuffed the tie back in his pocket and ran after her.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the year 5,000,000,053 and the Face of Boe was dying. New Earth had been wiped out by a drug called Bliss and he had done all he could to keep the survivors safe. With only Novice Hame for company, the Face of Boe had spent his life force to keep the motorway operational. 

Now he was lying on the floor, feeling the cool air on his face for the first time in millennia as the Doctor begged him to hold on. But he had lived far too long; it was time for him to cross the void into death permanently. He blinked slowly and barely managed to summon the strength to speak.

“Know this Timelord. You… are not… alone,” he murmured before letting out a final breath and closing his eyes. 

He woke up to a suffocating darkness and jerked around wildly. It was so black that he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face and it terrified him. He stood up, groping blindly for anything or anyone that would let him know that he wasn’t alone in this bleak space and then gasped. 

Hands! For the first time in thousands of years he had hands. And legs… Now that was odd. Being a biped was a bit disconcerting after spending so many years in the glass tank that had contained him. He felt around, brushing his new hands over his face and feeling hair that flopped over his forehead; he felt his ribs, his chest, and his legs, which ended in a pair of a feet that he could vaguely remember had seen a lot of running over the years. In spite of his fear and confusion he grinned. It had been so long since he’d been this attractive. He wished he had a mirror handy. 

He sat down and stared into the endless darkness. Memories came flooding back to him: names, dates, places; times long forgotten began to stream into this mind. He closed his eyes and pictures of lives once lived began to flash through his consciousness. His childhood, long forgotten by now, was remembered with a mixture of pain and pleasure. He thought of the Boeshane Peninsula and of his family. Losing Gray was only a distant ache now but it was there, still prodding at his heart with a tiny stab.

Then there was the Time Agency. He wasn’t overly fond of them or the things he’d had to do while employed by them. He had been someone deplorable then. Even after losing his memories and going freelance he’d thought only of himself. But the Doctor had seen his potential. He frowned, squinting into the darkness as tendrils of a long forgotten memory brushed at his mind. No… that wasn’t right. It had been Rose. Rose had seen it first and convinced the Doctor he was worth saving. The Time Lord had made him someone else entirely but it had come with a price for all of them. 

The Doctor he had just spoken to before he died still had no idea of what was in store for him: The Master, The Toclafane, and a year’s imprisonment were all still yet to come. And he would try to save the Master anyway out of both compassion and survivor’s guilt, only to bring pain to Jack, Martha, and her family. This was the version of the Doctor he had waited for while he had worked for Torchwood.   
Thoughts of his time there came roaring back. He remembered Gwen, who had kept them human, Tosh the technical genius, and Owen with his acerbic manner but brilliant medical skills. And then there had been Ianto. He had never really forgotten Ianto, even if sometimes he had remembered him in name only. Something whispered at the back of his mind, a promise, maybe.

_“Don’t forget me…”_

After Gwen had died he had given up on Torchwood, wandered off to see the stars. Her death had been one too many for him and Rhys’ anger had pushed him away. With his old team dead, he had seen no reason to stay on Earth. He had turned what was left of Torchwood over to UNIT’s control and fled on the nearest carrier out of the Earth’s atmosphere, never to return again. 

He had travelled the stars, hopping from one planet to the next, taking various jobs over the centuries to keep himself going. He had run without stopping until he could go no more. When there was nowhere left for him to hide he’d finally come to terms with his existence and the cost of the living forever. That was when he had settled, when he had undertaken the final journey that would lead to him becoming the Face of Boe. He’d shed his other personas and aliases to become something deeper and wiser for the benefit of the humanity’s existence. He’d always known he would see the Doctor again someday. Now he had done that; he’d played his final part in the show that was the Doctor’s life. 

There would be no dragging back this time, only forever in the welcoming darkness and for that he was grateful. He settled down to wait.


	3. Chapter 3

The man formerly known as the Face of Boe sat in the darkness and contemplated the impossibly long life he’d led. He was glad to be free of it. It had been so long and he was so tired. In fact, he was so involved in his memories that he didn’t see the light approaching in the distance until it was close enough to nearly blind him. The man stood up and attempted to shade his eyes with his hand. The light grew brighter and larger until finally a figure stepped out of it. It was a young man wearing a three piece pinstriped black suit with a white shirt and blue and white striped tie.

“Hello Jack,” a familiar voice said. 

Memories rushed over him in an instant. He remembered calling himself Captain Jack Harkness. It was the name he’d used the longest out of all of his aliases. It was who he’d been while working for Torchwood and waiting for the Doctor. And it was the name he’d given to one Ianto Jones. He’d loved Ianto but never been able to say it, even to return the words when his lover had been dying. He’d spent countless years regretting it until finally it had become distant enough to let go. But here and now, would there be a second chance? Was Ianto here to forgive him for the transgressions of his past or to condemn him to misery?

“Ianto,” Jack whispered.

Ianto smiled and Jack found himself remembering how much he had loved that. It was something he’d forgotten without intending to. Before he could say anything else, Jack had pulled him into a bone-crushing embrace and was kissing him. It had been thousands of years since they’d kissed but to Jack it was like it had only been yesterday. He plundered Ianto’s mouth frantically while nearly squeezing the life out of him. Finally Ianto pulled back and gulped in air.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that sort of welcome,” he gasped.

“It’s really you,” Jack murmured as he caressed Ianto’s face.

“Yes, it’s really me. They sent me to get you,” he said.

“They?” 

“It’s a long story. Let’s just say there are a lot of people waiting for you,” Ianto said. 

“But I thought this was it. When you die there’s nothing, right?” Jack questioned.

“This is just the holding place. People come here to rest and reflect on their lives for a while and then they move on,” Ianto told him. 

He smiled at Jack’s bewildered look and held out a hand for him.

“I’ll explain when we cross over. Come on.”

Jack took Ianto’s hand and they walked into the light together.


End file.
